Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Fun Inside and Out




Getting back from Sorarnoy, we had around 6 inches of snow. More than I am used to seeing. It was amazing! Nathan, Lars and I decided to go midnight sleding...it was more fun than I have had in a long time. The Northern lights came out and we layed on the snow and just looked at the stars. It was like a millions little pieces of glitter. There was a distinct difference between the stars and planets, the stars twinkled and the planets were constant. The following day, Sunday we hiked all the way up the mountian to the other side and found a perfect spot to sled. Weaving in between trees, jumping over humps in the hill. It was a "heaps" of fun as Nathan (my Australina roomate) would say.

Sitting at the base Nathan, Lars, Madara and I discovered a band called "Flight of the Conchords" They are two guys from New Zealand...they are like stand up comidians who sing and just make halarious songs. If you are looking for a great laugh look them up on youtube. Last week Graham Powell came and talked to us about Spiritual Warfare. It was incredebly deep. After every day of teaching my mind was wrecked, I just didnt want to think anymore...Wednesday night Lars and I meet up with Graham and he prayed for us. I told Graham about my past and he prayed that I would sense Gods forgiveness, along with me to recive the strength to forgive myself. It was an amazing night and I definantly felt Gods presence.

This week we have a Norwegian guy named Hovard talking to us about the Holy Spirit. So far it has been a really interesting week. It is really neet seeing as how I have had alot of questions about spiritual gifts, especially speaking in toungs and it has seemed that when I have questions about a subject, God seems to bring a teacher that is really familiar with what I am questioning and most of the time he has the answer.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Evangelism

Alot has happend since last time I wrote. Friday night the 26th, my two roomates (Nate and Danel) and three girls, (Anna, Courtenay, and Madara) and I decided to challenge ourselves and sit in this tiny prayer room from 11pm untill 9am. This adventure started out just as sitting and talking about anything and everything. Around 130am we started praying and we prayed basiclly untill we left at 845. It was an amazing night, I really feel that the six of us bonded and we did something no one else has...it was definantly an experience. I have learned however that me in a tiny prayer room with 5 cups of coffie is not the best idea that I have ever had.
This past week 2 guys, one from the southern part of Norway...Ekkie and the other, Brad a guy from Ohio...GO MID WEST!!! Came to our school to talk about Evangelism. They came from the SOE, School of Evangelism. Ekkie was 21 fresh from the SOE and Brad was staff at the SOE. They talked and had many amazing stories about Evangelism and it was good timing seeing as the following week we were going on mini outreach. Line, Lars and me (the original Sorarnoy team) went back to Sorarnoy except instead of just being here for a weekend we got to stay from Friday untill the following Saturday. Anyways the teaching was really good and I felt that I could easily stay focused the whole week. The two amazing teachers had a great way of teaching, telling stories and since they were closer to our age it was just an amazing week.
Sofia (One of the staff that normally comes to sorarnoy with us) came to Sorarnoy with us for our local outreach but then left Saturday morning, everyother Friday we have this kids club. This past Friday we played alot of little games, mindgames and relay races. Towards the end one team recieved a recipie for brownies and the other team didnt. Both teams baked brownies and suprisingly the team without a recipie turned out pretty good. We did our devo with the kids on how the bible is like the recipie for our life. Sometimes we may have the nessicary ingrediants but without guidelines (our bible) our life can end up being very messed up...it was a good devo and afterwards we split up into smaller groups and within the smaller groups the kids felt more comfertable to ask questions and I feel that we made alot of progress.
Sunday was a day of rest for the team. The only thing we did was in the afternoon went to the end of the island and walked through an old german base that was occupied in WW 2. It was very creepy as we were walking through the dark tunnels and rooms. Most of the base has been closed off for saftey reasons, but the craziest part was being able to move and rotate this massive cannon that probably weighed around 10 tons. After being slightly nervous all afternoon in a german base we had dinner and then remembered that we were sopposed to go to a Prayer and Worship meeting at the pentacostal church on the other side of the island. We showed up a couple min late but everyone was very excited to meet us and all in all it was a good evening.
Monday, Lars and I woke up around 7 am and had breakfast with Gjermund (the guy whos house Lars and I sleep at) and then left at 8 to meet up with Harold (the father of the family that kind of hosts us...) and we helped him finish up the siding on a house that he is building. It was alot of fun being outside with a two good friends and doing construction. It reminded me of when I was in my building trades class however it was ALOT colder here. After lunch Lars, Line and I watched over the littlest kid Signejohanna. Tuesday was another day off...we sat around and had a good time just hanging out, doing small tasks around the house to help out while Synnove (the mother) was out of town. Tuesday evening Morten and Joy (a couple from the pentacostal church we attended Sunday evening) invited us over for dinner. Joy is from the Phillipiens so the food was AMAZING. If you have heard any rumors of Europeans bashing Americans...well Morten proved that theory, I had a lesson that night to keep my mouth shut. I prayed alot that evening for God to give me strength to not say anything....other than that the evening was very nice. Wednesday the three of us, Lars Line and myself had the oppourtunity to go to the school and teach. Lars taught an hour of German and Line and I taught an hour of English, the class was cool, a whole four kids. In the evening Lars and I hiked up this hill and set up a slackline (a hobbie that I am returning to after a long time) and watched the sun set with a fire and had an amazing time haniging out.
Wednesday night I started feeling sick to my stomach and Thursday I stayed at Gjermunds house and slept while Lars and Line went to the school again. I was not happy that I couldnt go to the school but I knew that we would have a full day at the school on Friday. I had a good day sleeping, reding my bible and just relaxing...letting my mind empty itself.
Thursday night was not the most fun night, Line Lars and I all stayed at Gjermunds house and Gjermunds stomach (side) had been bothering him all week. It had been feeling better Wednesday and then Thursday evening he started to be in alot of pain. We gathered around him and prayed for him for a while and he said that he was feeling a little better but not much. Around 430 am I heard him wake Line up saying that he was going to the hospital in Bodo since there is not a doctor on the island. Lars drove him to the harbor and a Doctor Boat arrived and took him accross the ocean to Bodo. Line stayed with him thinking that she would be able to take a ferry accross at 10am so she could make it back for the last hour of our teaching the kids but there isnt any ferrys on Fridays so it turned into Lars and I teaching. The day was good, we had three English classes and only 5 or 6 kids in each class so it was an easy day. The last class was the most fun, we had the 8-10th grade. We spent the class talking about America and trying to name all the states. Supprisingly 30 some of the states were named without looking at the map and without my help...not that I would have been much more of a help but anyways it was a fun day.
Our last night at Sorarnoy, we took four boys from 8-10th grade out camping in the bunker that we had explored the past Sunday. We meet up at the soccer field at the school at 5 pm and with several mistakes (forgetting items) we finally arrived and hiked up the hill. We started a fire in the very top of the bunker and I relized that we had forgotten a big part of our dinner. Ellias and I drove back to get the sausage and with the snow and ice on the ground it was a fun trip sliding and spinning...nothing like my car back home though. We spent the night sitting by the fire, talking just hanging out getting to know the kids more and I could see that the four boys were opening up alot...
Today (Saturday) we took the fast boat to Bodo to go see Gjemund in the hospital and spent the day seeing the city and spending time with our good friend. As we were walking towards the bus stop to buy our tickets home we ran into a fellow teamate Rita who was part of a group sent to Bodo. We had a little time to catch up but not much...its okay we will rejoin tommorow back home in Engavagen. It has been a great trip and I am anxious to go back on Friday